Lost Beauty
by Dark Angel 1313
Summary: My first story!Follow the story of Esperanza and Karina,two sisters who became a part of the Cullen Family and were in more danger than the others realized.If Bella wasn't Edward's first love,then who was and why was he alone when they met? Might be M L8R
1. First Entry

_A/N: Hi there people of Fanfiction! This is my very first story so please be merciful_. _Just to avoid confusion,the Edward mentioned in the first chapter is NOT Edward Cullen. Feel free to PM me if you have any questions, and now...On with the Show!  
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_Disclaimer:I do not own Twilight. Only 3 posters and all 3 DVDs. The franchise belongs to that goddess Stephanie Meyer. (If it were mine, Edward never would have left.)_

Chapter 1

Some think that any story with a princess is a fairy tale. That it's all about magical spells, handsome princes, and a happily ever after with your one true love. I can tell you right now that none of that is true. There's no such thing as fairy tales, and happy endings never last. My life was well defined from the moment I was born. My older sister was to be Queen of our country, I was to marry a Prince of a neighboring country called Aragon. That marriage would form a strong alliance between Aragon, my homeland of Castile, and England. The war in England against the Scots was escalating…they were desperate for help and my father was just the man to give it to them. He betrothed my older sister, Karina to the middle son of King Richard of England, Edward. Edward came to stay with us in Castile… living here until Karina was old enough to be married. He and I have never exactly gotten along, every morning I greeted him with a bite of my thumb and he would proceed to call me Creature.

My mother had a tendency to meddle. Edward was a wonderful dancer and she very often made me practice with him. We actually got along quite well when we danced. That was the first time I looked at him…really looked at him. He was everything I could have dreamed of… so perfect…so beautiful. I would never admit to him that I thought he was beautiful…perfect in every way. His broad shoulders, the perfect curve of his lips when he smiled, his skin…slightly darkened from the amount of time he spent outside riding horses. His hair was soft as silk...and golden as the dawn for which I was named. But the feature of his that I adored the most…were his eyes. I was lost each time I dared to look into them. Flawless was the only word I could think of to describe them… I could search the entire world and never find a blue that matches his… something between a freshly cut Sapphire and the Southern sea after a storm. He had caught me staring once and only tried to make me blush by pointing it out. I felt something just then…a pull at my hand, then a push at my lower back. He was bringing me closer to him. We had never been so close before…our faces were just inches apart . I felt his breath on my face, just centimeters from my own lips… and then Karina came into the ballroom.

"I see Mother has arranged a dance," she laughed "may I join in?" He let go of me and went to her. But that moment replayed in my mind as I watched them dance. And every night it would return in my dreams… our lips would touch for an instant and in that moment I felt complete. He would break the kiss, smile at me and ask me to awaken… and every morning I would awaken, just as he asked…but in tears.

He was a perfect angel, and he would never be mine… Edward belonged to my sister. He loved her, and she adored him. They had been best friends since she could speak and now they were never apart. Karina, knowing me better than anyone noticed a change in me.

"You seem happier…why?", she smiled, "Won't you tell your big sister what has you so happy? Has Mother introduced you to your betrothed? I mean, he _is _rather handsome."

"Betrothed?" I asked, since when was I betrothed?

"I can't be betrothed…", I felt tears form in my eyes.

"She hasn't told you then? Oh well, I spoiled the good news."

I turned away so she wouldn't see the tears… "What's the matter? You've been dreaming of this day, haven't you?"

"Do you know who it is?" I knew that it was impossible, but I still prayed that she would say his name.

"Well I shouldn't say…it's a surprise. But he's handsome, and you've met him before… you know him quite well actually."

My heart was pounding, I was almost sure that she could hear it.

"He's the prince of Aragon. We've all met before…I told you he was handsome." she winked.

My heart stopped, I felt every hope, dream, and fantasy I had ever had leave me as she spoke. He was never mine, I told myself; he was hers and hers alone. I will never have him. I forced a smile, "You're right, he is. Thank you Karina…for telling me."

"Of course, just don't tell Mother… it was supposed to be a surprise."

"You know that I won't." I felt myself grow hot…with jealousy… I wanted him, Edward…. I wanted Edward. The one thing in this world I truly wanted and that I could not have.

All our lives Karina and I were compared… her good and kind nature against my beauty. We lived in a time when beauty, power, and wealth were everything. We looked the same in my eyes… we both had long black hair, we were both relatively pale, we both had curves in all of the right places, the only difference was our eyes. Karina had dark blue eyes… like sapphires, while mine were lighter. More of an icy blue… piercing and cold… the eyes of a killer. The killer I would soon become, the creature Edward had always accused me of being. The princess lost and never found.

My tale does not have a happy ending, if you are willing to listen then you may understand. My name is Aurora Esperanza Mortaña DeMadrigal Silvera, La Infanta de Castile, Queen of Aragon. You are about to enter mine and my sister's forbidden world. This is my story.

_Okay that's the first chapter! Please review! I want to know if I'm any good at this, lol. 3_


	2. The Meeting

_A/N: Hi again. So I think the last Chap. was okay but not great. Here's chap.2. Hopefully a few more things will make sense now._

_Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight. I wish I did though...that would be pretty cool._

Chapter 2

The meeting was… exciting, I suppose. Mother made sure that everything was perfect. The food, the music, my clothes, all down to the last detail. Karina accompanied me into the dining room, well not really 'accompanied' more like dragged. I was nervous, not because I was meeting my future husband but because Edward would be there. How could I hope to impress this new man if the one I currently dreaming of every night was going to be in the same room? When we stepped inside, I saw my parents speaking to a man whose back was turned to me. Edward was already there…standing in the corner of the room waiting for Karina to appear with me. When he approached us, I felt my cheeks flush with color. Why did he still have that effect on me? "I've been waiting for you two for almost an hour now, where have you been?" he asked us, his musical voice laced with concern.

"Sorry love, Esperanza was too scared." She smiled at him and he smiled back, lovingly. Why can't I have him look at me that way? He turned to me and I almost couldn't breathe.

"Come, let's meet your new husband-to-be, he's been waiting for you, he's excited to meet you. He can't wait to take you to his country and his palace."

"Wait, I'm leaving Castile?" I was shocked. I'm leaving here? My home, my family, even Edward?

"Where else would you go Esperanza?"

"I thought he was going to stay here, like how you're staying here!"

He shook his head.

"This isn't his land yet. I have to stay here because my situation is a lot more complicated. You'll like it in Aragon."

"Aragon? Those people are barbarians!" I looked at Karina, she did not mention any of this, and how could she betray me like this? "How could you fail to give me this information?"

"Sorry, it slipped my mind, I didn't think it would matter, you know that where you are going isn't going to change anything. Regardless, you'll like him; you would never want to come back."

"But I don't know him! You've known Edward you're whole life. I've only met this man twice in my entire life! What if he's awful? Or what if I miss home too much? I can't go, I won't!"

"You have no choice Esperanza, this is part of our job, we were born into this, we're princesses, heiresses to the empire that is Spain, we have to marry whoever mother tells us to in order to strengthen our country. If I didn't like Edward it wouldn't matter because I have to do my duty, as queen to strengthen the country."

"But you're the one who's going to be queen, not me. Why does it matter?" I had to go. I wasn't going to let this happen. Would it be too childish if I tried to run away? How far could I go? I was the sister of the princess; someone would be bound to recognize me. I'm sure it wouldn't be so difficult. Or perhaps I could dress myself up as a maid, cut my hair, change my name and just keep living here…with Edward.

"It matters because your father said it does." Edward replied, "Your only job is to have children with him. It's not that bad, Creature. You can always come to visit and you could write to Karina every month. You'd be a queen… I honestly thought you'd be excited."

I felt myself grow weak, he was right. I had no say in the matter… I wasn't even the princess. I had no say in my future; Karina had more control over it than I did. If I spoke out against my betrothal I could be imprisoned, my chance at the throne taken away… or worse. I dropped my head in defeat, "Fine then. Take me to him." Edward smiled as Karina took his hand and then mine. We walk towards this man, this prince, slowly because of my nerves. Even from behind he looked handsome. He was quite tall, with black hair that reached his shoulders, his skin an olive complexion. My father looked past the prince's shoulder and gestured to me. The prince then turned to me and I saw his face. He looked… perfect, almost sinfully handsome. He smirked as I came closer, "Well, well, well… you certainly weren't exaggerating, she is absolutely stunning."

I blushed deeply. "Ah," he sighed, "she's still so modest…" he grabbed my chin and forced me to look into his eyes. A sharp gasp escaped his lips when he saw my eyes,

"Those eyes…breathtaking…your name, child?"

"Aurora. But I prefer to be called by my middle name, Esperanza."

"Esperanza you say? Absolutely beautiful… I think I'm a very lucky man to have such a beautiful wife-to-be.", he laughed. Something about that laugh made me uneasy, it seemed almost evil. He was good-looking, shockingly so. His eyes seemed to have every color imaginable in them, they were deep. I could almost feel myself sinking deeper into them. Edward spoke just then, breaking the awkward silence that had come over the room. "So when exactly can you take her from here so that I never have to see her again?" "Well I suppose that we could be married by the end of the month "

"That's not soon enough, can't it be done by oh, I don't know…tomorrow?" Karina laughed and playfully pushed Edward's arm. "Darling, be nice. You may not get along very well but she _is_ still my sister." He snorted, "Why on Earth would I be nice now? She's leaving in a few weeks and then I'll never have to see her again. My life is complete."

I looked at him, smiled, and bit my thumb. The prince burst out laughing, "Ha ha, a feisty little one! I always like my women a little lively. It makes for a more entertaining wedding night." My mother came across the room towards us. "So Emmanuel, do you accept my daughter Aurora as your bride?" "I believe I do. She's lovely; I can't wait to take her back with me." My father spoke then, his voice as clear as summer's thunder. "Then it's agreed. Aurora will marry Emmanuel before the end of the month and go to Aragon with him after the wedding night. God bless you both and now, to the feast!"

And just like that it was settled. I was to marry this strange man and join him in the Barbarian Lands by the end of the month. I would have to leave Castile, my home, my family, my Edward all for my crown. But he wasn't my Edward I thought as he smiled at Karina. Edward was hers. Karina was my sister; she was such a good person… so pure.

She deserved someone as perfect as Edward. There was no place in his heart for me and I needed to accept that before I got married. He's not my husband and he never would be. My unfulfilled wish, my perfect Edward, the only thing I wanted was to be his. To have some place in his world, even as his mistress. Yes, I would even settle to be his whore. It would be enough to let me die happily but now I needed to settle for my dreams. The dreams where I was his, the dreams that would never come true.


	3. London, 1879

_A/N: This took me a while to see where to go exactly I wanted to. Hope it's at least decent…_

_Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight :''''''''''''''(_

I liked London. It was 1879 and Karina and I were taking some time apart. She was in France taking on a new project. She had recently developed an interest in architecture and was working on the preliminary designs for a ship that was named "Titanic". These three years were the longest she and I had ever been separated in our entire lives. It was strange…being on my own. The world had changed, 13 was no longer considered a woman. I thought I was going to be sent to a work house or an orphanage, that is, until I met him. Mr. Carlisle Cullen was a man, about 23, studying to be a doctor. A dark joke considering he too was a vampire. He fascinated me; he was just so different from me. And yet here he was, just as beautiful as me. We shared snow-white skin, and inhuman speed and strength. The only difference between us being that his eyes were gold while mine were bright red.

He was alone in the world when I found him. Just trying to find some way to keep going in this world, just trying to find some company. Without Karina things had gotten dull. I needed someone to look after, someone to care for. I'd already been doing it for the past 500 years; I had gotten accustomed to someone needing me for even the slightest thing. Carlisle's misery reminded me of Karina, and I could tell that he needed me. I had walked up to his home and knocked on the door. When he opened the door surprised, I broke the ice by responding "Good evening, sir. My name is Esperanza and I'm here to relieve you of your sorrow." with a bright and seductive smile.

He looked taken aback by what I had said, but he smiled and invited me into his home. He attempted to introduce himself but I stopped him. "No need," I said, pressing my finger to his lips. "I know exactly who you are." I took a step back. "My friends in Italy have told me about you, Mr. Cullen. In fact, Aro spoke quite fondly of you. I see that his praises were not exaggerated, from what I've seen here in London you are a good man."

"Aro is very generous with his compliments," he said, his voice reminding me of someone from long ago. "but I haven't seen him in a few decades. Do you visit Italy often?"

"No. I recently left Italy. My sister and I wanted to travel further than our birthplace. Considering all that's happened to us, it really wasn't healthy to stay in Spain." His eyes widened at my words.

"Your sister? Do mean your coven mate? Is she with you?"

I sighed deeply. "No, she's in France at the moment. But yes, my sister. She's three years older than me. We were transformed together a bit over 5 centuries ago. We've been together since the day I was born, after about 530 years with someone, you start to want space from the other person." , I explained.

I looked up into his eyes and contemplated using my gift on him. The gift Aro treasured so. The manipulation of desires. The ability to make you want something so bad you'd crush anything that stands in your way. Loyalty dissolves, love fades…true mind control. Aro had wanted me to stay in Volterra, and while Karina worked with the guard, I stayed closer to the family itself. We were strong additions to his collection, Karina and I had both been "_blessed_" with extremely rare gifts. Leaving was not the easiest thing to do, but it had to be done.

I held his gaze and saw my own eyes reflected in his. An energy field was shared between us, invisible to everyone but us. The colors of his energy were light and pure, I'd never seen anything like it from one of our kind. And there I found them, the small spider-silk like threads of his desires. The thickest strand was a shining white, the desire to preserve his humanity. I had seen it in Karina, occasionally other vampires but never so thickly woven or so brightly shining.

I reached out and took his hand in my own. Searching through the other smaller threads I found a new one. The intensity of my stare was wearing at him. He looked dazed and his gaze was dreamy and clouded. The new thread shone a dark red…I had seen this many times before, always directed towards me. A thread of lust. It was small, but it was there. It was not corrupting the rest of his threads, his thoughts still remained pure. But as the saying goes, 'Curiosity killed the cat' and I just _had _to be such a curious little thing. I touched his cheek, mentally pulling the thread of lust.

He sighed my name and I continued to pull.

"Carlisle…I don't want you doing anything you think you'll regret. Are you certain?" I finished my question with a light kiss to his cheek. I felt the lust glow brighter and smiled. He returned my smile.

"Forgive me. I don't know what has come over me…" he stumbled over his words.

I went up on my toes and pecked his lips, "You're thinking too much. I know what you want to do. There are no consequences for our kind. You shouldn't repress these things believe me. Act on your desires, Carlisle, for both our sakes."

And with that he kissed me deeply. My first kiss that wasn't forced on me, there was no love behind it. I knew that it was lust-driven, I just didn't care. For once in my life, **I had control over a man.**Not the other way around. I broke the kiss, "Take me upstairs.".

That was the last sentence spoken for the rest of that night.

_A/N: Well that was pretty interesting…lol_

_R&R_

_Love,_

_Dark Angel 1313_


	4. The Pain of the Past

Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight, only 2 shirts, 3 posters, all 4 DVDs, and an Edward blanket

Chapter 4

The morning after my evening with Carlisle was when his questions began. Where I came from and how I got there, how old I was at the time of my transformation. I was terrified to give him my answers…but never the less I answered as truthfully as my paranoid mind would allow.

"Well I was born and raised in what is now Spain. I have been traveling across Europe with my older sister and we took a charter here to London. I was about thirteen winters when I was bitten by my husband." , I told him with a slight hesitation, what if he asked about my husband? Why had I not considered the possibility that he might want some elaboration on my past life? _Stupid, stupid, stupid, _I scolded myself.

"Your husband was one of our kind?", he asked me, shocked that I was married so young.

"No, he wasn't like us…he was a true monster.", the longer I spoke of him the more paranoid I became. He always swore to me that he would always find me, that I would always belong to him. Carlisle must have sensed my fear, for he immediately took me in his arm and told me I didn't have to speak about it anymore. I leaned into his touch. Although I would never admit it because of Karina, I still thought of Edward frequently. Carlisle reminded me so much of him, I felt terrible…using Carlisle and pretending it was Edward. _Except this time, there's no annoying older sister to intrude and ruin everything,_ I thought to myself.

I told Carlisle that I would be fine without him for a few hours while he left to study. As I watched him walk away through the window of his room I saw children play in the street around him, all of them waving good-byes as the handsome doctor left. He smiled and waved back, leaving the children behind. The sight warmed my cold, unbeating heart. _That's how it could be… me, a wife telling my husband I'll see him in the afternoon… watching our children and their friends play outside. It's a shame it'll never happen to me. _

I saw that for the sake of his maids he kept food in the house and glanced outside the window again. The children were still at play. I couldn't hold back my smile as I saw a girl with golden curls running after a ball in the street. _She reminds me of Catalina… how can that be?, _I asked myself.

Catalina… Edward and Karina's first-born. My favorite and only niece. I loved that little girl. She and Edward Zachary were the only children I tolerated. I loved them and spoiled them both, being their only maternal aunt had its advantages. Seeing that little girl in the street and looking back at the kitchen, I decided I wanted to do something… to remind me of the old days when I was the second mother they went to when Karina said no.

I tried my best and finally ended my hard work with little fruit pies for each child. I made "Catalina's" special…and put honey and a rose bud on top. I grabbed the tray and went outside to bring the treats to the children. When they saw me walking towards them with the treats, they came running. I smiled and handed each child a pie until I had gotten to the little girl. She smiled the brightest when she saw me, and I smiled back. An older boy came up behind her, "Kathleen, thank the nice lady." _Kathleen, _I thought,_ Kathleen…Catalina… God, why do you torture me so? "_Thank you Miss Princess" , she said. _Princess? How could she possibly tell? "_It was no trouble my darlings. You, Kathleen was it? Why did you call me that?", I asked, curious of what her answer might be. "Because you're beautiful, like the princesses in the book my Papa reads to me."

So simple her answer, and yet I was perplexed. I was a princess in her eyes because I was beautiful… if she saw Karina…if Karina saw her. I shuddered to think of what might happen. "Are you going to marry the doctor?", she asked me. I laughed, "No my dear, I'm just an old friend visiting him." "Well then could you find him a wife? He looks very unhappy." I stared at her as if she'd grown another head. _Find Carlisle someone? How can I do that when I can't fix my sister, or even myself? It's madness… absolute madness. _

"How about I promise you this instead, Love. I'll see to it that he's as happy as can be someday, and whoever she is, I promise you that she'll be wonderful." She stared at me for a moment and held out her tiny hand. "We have an accord then!", she exclaimed, smiling proudly. I smiled back and took her hand in mine.

I stepped back into Carlisle's house when the clouds got lighter. I would ask him to finish his schooling and come to the New World with me and Karina. I looked around for some parchment and a pen. I wrote Karina a letter explaining my situation and asking her if she wanted to come along. When all was said and done, I sealed the letter with a wax seal and sent the post boy to the docks. It would reach her in about a week. That should be long enough to leave. After that we could all put the brutality of our pasts behind us. We would be safe away from Europe. America was waiting.

A fresh start for us both, or so I thought.

_A/N :Well this chapter was a little more fun. __ The real Twilight characters are coming in really soon. (YAY!)_

_R&R, okays?_

_Love,_

_Dark Angel 1313_

_P.S.: Those that have followed this story…you guys get virtual cookies.  
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